This Week in K-State Recruiting: Wildcats land first football pledge in three months

A lengthy commitment drought came to an end for the Kansas State football team over the weekend.

Fans hadn’t seen K-State recruiting director Taylor Braet celebrate the addition of a new high school recruit by tweeting “Bring on the Cats” since all the way back in early January when Sterling Lockett pledged his services to the Wildcats. But that changed on Sunday night.

Colby McCalister delivered the good news. He is a 5-foot-11 and 180-pound cornerback from Friendswood, Texas who didn’t need much time to announce his commitment to K-State.

The Wildcats offered him a scholarship early last week, and after some conversations with assistant head coach Van Malone and the rest of the staff he was sold on the idea of wearing purple.

“I am 102% committed to Kansas State University,” he wrote in his social media announcement.

Not much is known about McCalister at the moment. He doesn’t have a star rating from either Rivals or 247Sports.

K-State is the only FBS team that has offered McCalister a scholarship. But he was an all-district player as a junior after making 40 tackles, seven pass breakups and two interceptions in nine games. He has received recruiting attention from Army and Colorado, as well as an offer from FCS Alabama State.

His highlight videos suggest that he is a physical defender that can make plays in both man and zone coverage. He is also capable of making big tackles.

McCalister is the first player from the Lone Star State to join K-State’s recruiting class of 2022. He has a K-State connection, as he comes from the high school (Clear Springs) as current players Seth Porter and Shane Porter.

He is the fourth player in the group. The other four — Silas Etter, Tyson Struber and Lockett — are all from the Sunflower State.

Wildcats offer WR with unique K-State family connection

It’s common for K-State coaches to go after recruits with family connections to the football team, such as the brothers and sons of former players.

But here is one you don’t see every day: the Wildcats recently offered a scholarship to the grandson of a former player.

The recruit is Charles Nimrod. He is a 6-foot-2 receiver from Bentonville, Arkansas. His grandfather, Michael Creed, played receiver for the Wildcats for three seasons from 1969-71 and caught passes from former quarterback Lynn Dickey.

He has 15 scholarship offers and five of them are from power-conference teams (Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, K-State and Washington State), so acquiring his services won’t be easy. But his unique connection to K-State makes him a player worth knowing.

Pair of linebacker targets pick Iowa State

It wasn’t all good news on the recruiting front for K-State football over the weekend.

A pair of linebacker recruits with offers from the Wildcats both committed to Farmageddon rival Iowa State.

Carson Willich, a 6-foot-1 linebacker from Blue Springs, was the first to make his announcement on Friday. He picked the Cylones over both KU and K-State.

Perhaps that prompted Will McLaughlin to do the same on Saturday. The 6-foot-3 linebacker from Harlan, Iowa, chose the Cylcones over K-State and Iowa a day later.

Iowa State has become one of K-State’s biggest recruiting competitors in recent years, and coach Matt Campbell has now forced Chris Klieman to look elsewhere for defensive help.

Two basketball recruits off the board

With no available scholarships to offer next season, it seems like the K-State basketball team is done recruiting transfers and 2021 prospects.

But it is still worth noting that a pair of high school recruits that K-State pursued vigorously in the past are officially off the board to other schools.

C.J. Noland reaffirmed his commitment to Oklahoma last week. His future was in some doubt following the retirement of coach Lon Kruger.

His father, Belvis Noland, played at K-State in the 1990s. And the Wildcats recruited him hard before he originally chose the Sooners. So there was a chance they could get involved again if he looked elsewhere. But he will play for Porter Moser in college.

Tamar Bates, a four-star shooting guard and a Kansas City native, announced he will play for Indiana on Monday.

He was on the market for a few days after he decided to withdraw his commitment from Texas. K-State recruited him hard in 2019 before he became a national prospect.